Starting Over
by superscar
Summary: They sort of knew each other ten years ago, but a lot has happened to them both since then. NathanHaley
1. Chapter 1

Starting Over  
by superscar

Prologue,  
_Tree Hill High School, Ten Years Ago_

"Hey, dude, check it out!" Tim Smith handed Nathan Scott his cell phone and the movements between the people on the screen were unmistakable.

"Don't you watch enough porn at home?"

"I don't know what this 'enough' is that you speak of - but this is totally different, man - they go to our school!"

"What!" He had to take a closer look, though he could barely see anything on the tiny ass screen. "How'd you get it?"

"I think the dude in it sent it to his friends and now everyone has it. Probably on the Internet by now."

Jake Jagielski walked up to where they were and shoved his gym bag in his locker. "Is that the infamous tape?"

"I have no idea who it even is," Nathan shrugged.

"Never fear, I'll e-mail it to you so you can see the good stuff," Tim snickered.

Jake shook his head, "You're such a jackass."

"What? I'm not the one passing the file around."

Nathan felt the need to clarify, "Actually, you are."

"Shut up, dude," Tim shoved him, "I'm not the one who made the video - anyone that tapes themselves going at it knows this is a possibility."

"Riiiight," Jack nodded, "Jack ass."

"Whatever - Nate, totally didn't think she was the type, did you?"

Nathan was losing interest in the conversation. Most of the girls he knew were definitely the type to have sex on tape but if they were really one of his friends, he couldn't watch it. At the very least couldn't let anyone _know_ he did.

"I don't even know who we're talking about and the bell's gonna ring at any second," he picked up his back pack and headed toward the door of the Boys' Locker Room.

"It's that girl who used to tutor you. Kaylee something, right?"

Wrong. His tutor's name was Haley. Haley James.

She was twenty minutes late to school because she'd spent almost half an hour in the shower, just dreaming about her boyfriend, Chris. How he'd sang to her and they took the next step in their relationship the night before. Sex was different than she thought it would be. Like there would be some huge change or fundamental shift once she had it.

Not being a virgin, she'd come to discover, was really only a big deal to virgins. The other side of the wall was pretty much exactly the same.

It was the emotion that was different. The L-word that came out of his lips during the song. That was overwhelming.

Haley couldn't help giggling as she hurried to her class room.

When Haley hadn't been in his English class that morning, Nathan couldn't help but be relieved. Maybe she already knew what had happened? Decided to do the smart thing and move to Charlotte?

Haley James was one of the most innocent people on the face of the planet and the fact that there was a sex video floating around school with her in it was unbelievable. And the fact that he'd heard her boyfriend, Chris Keller, was the one to send it out to his buddies in the first place disgusted Nathan beyond belief. He'd never been that disrespectful of a woman in his life, and he'd had more than his share of one night stands. But then, he'd started early in life.

Everyone was whispering about her and it made him uncomfortable. He hadn't said anything, he didn't even know her, really. She'd tutored him for maybe a month at the beginning of the year. But she was a nice girl, he remembered that about her. Unassuming.

He hoped she escaped this mess with her life.

The door knob turned and Nathan winced when Haley herself walked through the door. She looked happy, ready to fight another day. Acid spread through Nathan's stomach.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she handed the teacher her pass.

The whispers started up immediately as she went to her seat. Every guy checked her out and a few of the girls giggled.

Nathan recognized her confusion and couldn't watch anymore.

It had to be her imagination, Haley instructed herself firmly as she took her seat. Her mother had always told her that secretly, everyone is way too paranoid about what others think of them to worry too much about what you're up to.

But her mother wasn't there with her because she could swear every single eye was on her. And a few of the girls were laughing.

Haley smoothed a hand over her hair self consciously.

"Hey Haley," a guy next to her whispered and she turned to him expectantly. Maybe he would let her know if there was something in her teeth or she somehow came to school with toilet paper stuck to her jeans...? "Glad you made it," he winked and ran his tongue over his lip suggestively.

Haley grimaced in revulsion and shrank back into her seat. Her eyes were beginning to sting as possible reasons for the harassment ran through her mind in a whirl. Was it possible Chris had...said something? She dismissed it almost immediately. He couldn't have. He loved her. Right?

The twenty minutes left of her first period class crawled by as she focused on her teacher and didn't meet the eyes of anyone around her. Get through this class, find Peyton, figure out what the hell was going on. That was her goal.

She watched the clock as 10...7...5...3... the bell rang and she sprang out of her seat immediately, tripped on someone else's bag and only barely escaped a face plant.

"Are you okay?" one of the guys asked her, but she didn't look at him, just pushed through the rest of the students and to get out of the classroom.

Even though Haley had just totally blown him off, he really couldn't blame her, considering everyone had been pestering her the entire period.

Nathan didn't think he had anymore classes with her other than first period, which was just as well, it was like watching a car crash in slow motion.

"Nathan Scott!" His teacher yelled his name, waving him over to her desk. She was holding her phone in her hand.

"What'd you need, Ms. Thomas?"

"The office is on the phone, they'd like you to go see them?"

"Sure," he shrugged, "Which office?" There were only about a million in this school.

"Guidance Office."

That threw him, but he headed down there anyway. If it was the Vice Principal's office, it would have been about watching Tim's video this morning. If it was the Attendance Office, it may have been about a certain day he hadn't exactly had the stomach flu the week before.

But he hadn't been to the Guidance Office since, well... had he ever been there, actually?

"Peyton, thank God," Haley caught up to her best friend at her locker, "People are being really weird today."

"Haley, what were you thinking?" she hissed, looking around for anyone listening in on them. "Why would you let him tape you?"

"Tape? Who?" Haley frowned, totally baffled.

"Chris, he sent out a tape of you guys...you know," Peyton looked horrified just talking about it.

Haley's stomach dropped to China. "He...of us...me? It's on...a videotape?"

"People have been watching it on their phones. God, Haley, you didn't know?"

"He taped it? But... Oh my God," tears poured down her cheeks and she tried to get oxygen.

It didn't matter that she was having a breakdown in the middle of school. Vaguely, she felt Peyton pulling her out of the main hallway into the girl's bathroom, but she didn't care where she was. Her life was over. How could he do this to her? What had she done to possibly deserve this?

"Nothing," Peyton told her, "He's a jackass. A dead jackass as soon as I see him."

"Hey!" a girl came out of the bathroom stall and looked at Haley curiously, "You're that chick from the video, right? Right, why else would you be in here crying your eyes out, sorry."

"Ummm...have we met?" Peyton asked.

"Brooke Davis," she held out her hand, "I think we had Bio together last year or something."

Peyton shook her hand hesitantly and Brooke smiled.

"So, are you guys gonna kick the shit out of him soon, cause I'd like to be there for that."

Haley cracked a smile, "Nice to meet you."

Nathan walked in to the Guidance Office not really knowing what to expect. But his father wasn't even in the realm of possibility.

"Hello, son," Dan Scott gave him a big toothy grin that gave Nathan the creeps.

"What are you doing here?"

"Picking you up, you're moving."

"What are you talking about?" Nathan noticed his mother was in the room with him, "What is he talking about, mom?"

"The court gave him custody, Nathan," her voice cracked and he could tell she'd been crying.

"They WHAT? Are they insane?" Nathan glared at his father.

"Your mother was arrested for drug possession, Nathan. The court agrees you'd be better off in a stable, two parent home."

"Fuck off, Dan," Nathan pronounced the N very clearly, lest there be any confusion.

"I can bring an officer in here if you feel it's necessary, Nathan. Deb? A little help?"

Deb sighed, "Nathan, this is the best thing for everyone right now. I'll get you back here as soon as I can. I'm so sorry."

"Fine. Whatever, Mom. See you around, I guess."

He walked toward the door, not caring if Dan followed, he just needed to breathe for a second.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice the girl coming out of the bathroom because he plowed her right over.

"Shit, are you okay?"

"God, Nate, what the fuck?" she looked up at him.

"Hey Brooke," he offered her a hand and pulled her up as two other girls came out of the bathroom. Jake's girlfriend, whose name he could never remember and Haley James, who he had completely forgotten about in the midst of his own drama.

Silence. He realized he was staring and turned back to Brooke.

"No broken bones, right?"

"Nope, I'm flexible," she winked at him and felt himself go slightly red, much to his annoyance.

"Well. Good. So, I've gotta go and you guys, have to go. So I'll be seeing you. Or, well, probably not, actually," he laughed to himself. Seeing as he was moving across the state or something.

None of the girls seemed to know how to respond to this, which he really couldn't blame them for.

"Nathan," Dan caught up to him in the hall, "You coming?"

"Yeah," he gave Haley one more glance, "Hang in there."

She looked like she wanted to respond for a second, but she didn't and Dan guided Nathan out the door and on their way.

He caught one last glimpse of her through the glass in the door and never expected to see her again. But ten years later, Haley James would come walking right through his door.

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: It won't let me put breaks of any kind into this story, so I'm going to go to bed before I throw my computer against the wall. I hope it comes across clearly.

Starting Over, Chapter One

by superscar

"Nathan, how can you possibly find anything in this?" Lucas waded through his brother's office.

"Why do you think I'm trying to find an assistant, dumb ass?" Nathan rolled his eyes, "Oh hey, speaking of that, do you think I could use your office for the last few interviews? I don't want to scare them off or anything."

"What's wrong with the conference room, dick hole?"

"She'll know I have something to hide!"

Lucas tried to push the drawer to the file cabinet back in. "Why's it a she? What if you hire a guy?"

Nathan laughed. "Yeah. I'm sure I'll do that."

"You ever consider basing your decisions on ability rather than cup size?"

"Of course. But then, I'm a leg man." Nathan smiled.

"You realize you're hiring someone to assist you, Nathan, not date you?"

"Don't believe in multi-tasking, Luke?"

"Is that what you looked for on their resume?"

"Only because I wasn't allowed to ask for a picture."

"God," Lucas finally got the file drawer back in, "You're a sexual harassment case waiting to happen."

"So was that a yes or no on your office?"

After hours in the conference room, Nathan was down to his second to last interview with... he checked his list, Haley James.

Why did that name seem so familiar?

The door opened and the receptionist led in his next victim, as Lucas referred to them. Or, play mate, as Nathan preferred.

He stood up to meet her and held out his hand, "So you must be..." Her eyes hit him and he knew. It all came back in a flash and it was like that day in high school was yesterday.

"...Nathan Scott?" she breathed and he smiled.

He wasn't alone in the recognition, thank God. That would be awkward. "Good to see you, Haley."

"Did you know it was me, I mean," she sat down in the chair he offered her. "... it has to have been what, ten years?"

"Something like that...I'm glad to see you survived high school," he'd meant it as a joke, but the light in her eyes dimmed.

"Yeah. You too," she squirmed in her seat and wondered if he should assure her that despite seeing an extremely small picture of her naked, he didn't think any less of her? But he liked to leave the 'condescending ass' gene to Lucas. He got into that kind of crap.

"So!" Nathan decided to change the subject, "Why would a smart girl like you want to be my administrative assistant?"

"Oh, I'm just looking for a change of pace," she shrugged.

"Cool. When can you start?"

"Just like that? Don't you want to see my resume or something?" she goggled at him.

"Haley, you were my tutor. God, you're smarter than _me... _shut up, I know what you're thinking. Anyway, as I recall, you used to alphabetize your books inside your locker. Or am I thinking of someone else?"

Haley blushed, "I only did that...once...maybe twice."

"Oh yeah?" he was doubtful.

"Fine!" she gave in, "Yes, it was me. I was a total nerd."

"So, I ask again... When can you start?"

"How's now?"

"Perfect," he held out his hand, "Welcome to Scott Enterprises."

As he led her through the office, making introductions, Haley couldn't help but notice how things had changed for him since high school.

Well, not really changed, apparently once on top, always on top. He probably wouldn't even know how to function in any other environment.

Haley's normal reaction to seeing anyone she'd known in high school was to hide, or even pretend to be someone else. But she could see it in their eyes, the pity, amusement, even outright curiosity about her after 'the tape incident.' With Nathan Scott, there was none of that. She wasn't even a hundred percent sure he had still been there when it happened. It might have even...did he leave that same day?

She hoped so, the thought of just being able to relax around someone who thought she was normal was a relief.

"And THIS," Nathan wound down his tour, "Is my office."

Haley laughed. The question of why he needed an assistant was very clear. Actually, a maid service would be a more accurate assessment.

She gave Nathan a big smile, "I'm gonna need a raise."

Nathan grimaced, "Very funny."

"I thought so."

"Okay, obviously, the first order of business is to get things all...fixed."

"Organized?"

"Right, that," he agreed. "And then it is just regular like, phones, files, e-mail, that kind of stuff."

"All the crap you don't want to deal with?" Haley translated.

"Well, as you can see, I don't do it either way, so if _you _could, this would work a lot better. And it would keep my ass employed."

"Your ass employed?" Haley was amused, "I didn't know this was _that _kind of company."

"Don't you have some cleaning to do, smart ass?"

Haley was almost exactly how he remembered her, which was strange. She had to have changed in the decade since he'd seen her, but other than the obvious physical changes, she still managed to retain that sweetness she'd had then.

It was good to know they hadn't broken her.

Another thing she hadn't lost was the innate ability to organize him. Files were going into the actual cabinet and she had mentioned something about alphabetizing that would probably be helpful as well.

"Nathan, I know this may be a stupid question."

"Now, Haley, you know there are no stupid questions."

"Oh yeah?" Haley countered, "How about 'Who's the left fielder for the Chicago Bulls?'"

He grimaced, "Stop, you win. What's the question?"

"What do you DO? What's your job?"

"V.P. Public Relations."

"Do you have to relate to the public a lot?"

"Well, the whole advertising department is under me-" Nathan tried to ignore how dirty that sounded.

"Lucky them," she muttered and he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

"Not like that!" he snapped, "Well, for the most part."

"Yick," she made a face.

Lucas was right, he couldn't stay appropriate in the work place to save his life. "Whoa, hey, it's ten past five."

Haley glared at him, "You just had to drag that ten extra minutes out of me, didja?"

"Nah, I was just so into cleaning that I lost track."

"Right. You haven't changed _that _much since high school."

"True. Guess you're just good company."

"Well, that is true," she admitted, "So! I'll see you Monday, then! 8? 9?"

"9:00. I don't believe in waking up before the sun."

"Good policy," she picked up her purse, "Well, I guess I'll see you then!"

"Yeah. Nice to see you again, Haley."

She gave him a little wave and left. This would work out, he couldn't help but thinking. The only risk in hiring Haley was that she'd be too good and he couldn't afford her or that she'd get a better job and leave him. They'd only had time to just start going through his office and it was already looking better.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Lucas asked from the door, "Did I go back in time?"

"New assistant works fast."

"Why didn't you introduce her?"

"Now, why do you automatically assume it's a woman?"

Lucas banged his head against the wall.

"You were on the phone with Dan."

"I hate that man," Lucas sighed.

"Me too," Nathan agreed, "It's fairly pathetic that we're both somehow employed by him."

"He wants us to stay late and go over the quarterlys."

"OR we could go drink," Nathan suggested.

"Much better plan, I'll get my coat, you call a cab."

Nathan looked around at the place Lucas dragged him to. It was fairly classy for it's type, but he was still shocked that Lucas, of all people, had wanted to frequent it.

"I heard they have good food," he shrugged innocently.

"Right, and you go to Hooters for the chicken wings?"

"No, should I?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, they're awesome."

The music pumped around them as strippers twirled around a pole and Nathan admired their flexibility.

"Can I offer you fine gentlemen a drink?" a waitress approached them and Nathan didn't even bother to turn.

"I'd like a scotch, neat," Lucas answered her, "... and my brother here would like a mango daquiri with a fun little umbrella."

"Shut the fuck up," Nathan turned to deck Lucas, "Just give me a beer," he told the waitress, but she didn't move and he looked at her for the first time.

His stomach fell as his eyes roamed over her barely there bikini top, flat, naked stomach and skin tight leather pants. At any other time, it was a sight he would have liked, but he felt too ill to enjoy it.

"I'll just...get your order," Haley whispered, spinning around immediately, sending her hair flying out in a fan.

How could Haley James work in a strip club? He wanted to follow her and ask, but all he could do was sit down and try to catch his breath.

"You okay?" Lucas asked.

"Fine. She just looked familiar."

"Why? Fuck her already? Small world," Lucas laughed and Nathan wanted to punch his face in.

You didn't just _fuck _Haley, she was a lady, she was...apparently working at a strip joint. Was she a stripper? How was that possible?

Another waitress put their drinks on the table and Nathan found himself ignoring the girls attempting to get his attention in order to look for her.

"You're acting totally spastic, just FYI, man," Lucas told him helpfully.

"Thanks, dick. Shut up," he spotted her over by the bar and was out of his seat, "I'll be right back."

He didn't wait for a response, he had to talk to her, no matter what little right he had to do so. "Haley?" he saw her back stiffen and she slowly turned around.

"Nathan," she forced a smile, "My lucky day, what can I do for you?"

"You don't have to pretend this isn't awkward."

"And you don't have to come over to talk to me," she pointed out, not incorrectly. He was the one making things weird. Or weirder than they had to be. They should be ignoring each other like normal people, but he was pushing the issue.

"What happened after I left Tree Hill, Haley?"

"I have to go," she escaped into the women's bathroom to get away from him and Nathan sank into the bar stool.

They'd broken her more than he'd thought.

To Be Continued


	3. Chapter 3

Starting Over, Chapter Two

by scarlet (superscar)

It felt like hours before she emerged from the bathroom. Lucas had already taken off, but Nathan had to wait for her, though he hadn't a clue what he would say.

He met her eyes when the door opened and Haley sighed and approached him reluctantly.

"I take it you'll be finding a new maid service to take over your office cleaning?" she asked.

"What? No! I hired you for a reason, unless you want to back out."

"No, I definitely need the job."

"This isn't your scene?" Nathan asked hopefully.

"Well, I wouldn't come for entertainment," she eyed him pointedly.

"Touche'."

* * *

Haley was beginning to see that familiar glimmer of pity in his eyes and she hated it. Hated herself for bringing it on. Things had been so perfect between them, so comfortable, just that afternoon and now this! God! Nothing could ever go right for her. 

"Haley..." his voice was so soft it was almost like he wanted to cry for her and she couldn't take it.

"I'm up soon," she gestured toward the pole, "Kind of a going away present to the regulars," Haley slid a finger up Nathan's arm and he yanked it back from her, "Gonna stay to see what I've got?" she asked suggestively, sliding into the seat next to him.

"Uhhh," Nathan cleared his throat, "...that's not really, appropriate, considering."

He looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to hide and Haley felt a surge of triumph. Anything but the goddamn pity, like he won the fucking lottery and walked around feeling sorry for those less fortunate. The last thing she wanted was people feeling sorry for her. Especially Nathan Scott, who could have been her friend if this hadn't happened.

"Would you still want me to come in on Monday?" she slid into his lap and trapped him up against the bar.

"What?"

He didn't sound like he felt sorry for her anymore. Haley smiled.

* * *

There was a reason that he was here, he wanted to say...something or other, but he couldn't seem to recall what that was as Haley slowly slid off his lap and slipped back stage.

A drink. That's what he needed. Maybe a few.

Haley waited backstage for her last dance. _Ever. _She wanted to jump around and hug someone but the only person she could really get away with that with was Howie, the bouncer, but he wasn't working that night. Couldn't take "saying goodbye." Sap.

Not even Nathan's presence could kill this for her, but God, she hoped he went home. The thought of him seeing her like...that. Fuck. Like she needed to show him how much of a whore she'd become. It was pretty damn obvious already what with climbing all over him.

But she was changing, in the morning, she'd be different. Surely, even Nathan would be able to see that on Monday morning. The Haley from when he first knew her could re-emerge and they could put this whole business behind them.

If he left right now, it could happen.

"James, you're up!"

The music turned on and Haley shook out her muscles in preparation. One last time, that's what she promised. Needed, in fact, as a buffer in case things didn't work out at her new job or her landlord decided to raise the rent.

She stepped through the curtains and the regulars went wild. They knew it was her last night and they were here to stick as many dollars down her g-string as they had and Haley was willing to accept their going away present.

Every step and gyration had been perfected in Haley's years, dancing around a pole for large groups of lecherous men. The sexier the move, the more she used it. If a boob jiggle got her a dollar closer to what she really wanted, that's what she did.

And that night was the culmination, probably the wildest dance of her career and she winked at the men that threw money at her, mentally adding the totals.

Haley gave every man her 'Fuck me' gaze and drew her hands all over her own body. They couldn't touch her, the bouncers would stop them and it gave her power. Never again would some lusting pervert get into her head, her heart or her bed. She was reclaiming her life and all of the motherfucking scumbags watching could go home to their wives or jerk off in the bath room, she wasn't theirs.

And she never had been.

Haley Fucking James was born to be a lady and starting that next morning, she would get to be.

When her time ended and the lights came back on, she didn't notice the applause, but felt weight slip from her shoulders as she looked around.

Nathan was gone.

* * *

The cheerful rays of sunshine pounded mercilessly down onto Nathan's hung over head. Just being conscious wasn't working for him so early in the... He cracked an eye open to look at his watch. Afternoon. He tried to think of the quickest way to put himself out of his misery and settled on digging deeper under the covers to hide from the pain.

It wasn't particularly successful.

"My covers," came a grumpy voice next to him and he jumped.

God. This was just what he needed after a night of...fuck... "Haley?"

Red hair poured over the covers and he groaned. This couldn't be happening.

"Hey, last night...God," Nathan gave up on conversation, he could handle later, after he finally threw up and the world was back on its axis.

"Sleep," his bed mate sat up, grabbed her pillow and scooted to the far end of her King Sized bed, bringing the covers with her and leaving his eyes mercilessly unguarded.

"C'mon, Rachel," he whined. "God, you're a bitch in the morning."

"So?" She kicked him off the bed.

* * *

"How was you weekend?" Lucas asked as Nathan walked into the office Monday morning.

Nathan flipped him off and wandered to his office to find Haley...on the floor, paper literally piled all over her. "What the fuck?"

"I, just...grabbed too many...face planted," she blushed.

Well, that sounded interesting. "Care to demonstrate?" he asked.

"You saw how it ended, I don't think I could survive a second round, thank you very much."

"I'm always missing out on the best crap," Nathan sighed.

"Oh, just wait," Haley promised, "I give myself an hour before the files attack me again. We have a hate hate relationship."

"Everyone who knows them feels that way, I think."

"Shhh!" Haley put her finger to her lips and whispered, "They'll hear you. Get out – save yourself!"

How was it possible that the woman warning him of violence at the hands of his paperwork could possibly be the same woman who climbed on his lap at the strip bar just a couple days before. No. That had to have been a dream, it was the only possible explanation that made any sense.

It was too weird.

"So how was your weekend?"

Haley stiffened at his question. He hadn't even put any real thought into asking and their eyes met uncomfortably, in a way too personal moment for both of them.

"Fine," she shrugged.

It was the start of a magnificent conversation, he was positive.

"Mine sucked," he offered.

"Oh?" Haley seemed to appreciate his effort to focus the conversation back on himself, "What happened?"

He hadn't actually considered that at this point he would have to actually what, exactly, had made it suck such massive dick, which was probably why she'd gone with a generic '_Fine_' just to avoid exactly this.

"Oh, umm, you know...stuff."

"Right," she went back to filing and Nathan felt weirdly bad for shutting her out, as though she had the right to know the details of his personal life.

"You ever have a relationship that wouldn't end? Isn't that a song?" he asked.

"No, it's the song that wouldn't end. It goes on and on my...you know, it might be better if we just cut that off right here. I've lost friendships this way," she grimaced.

"So you've never been a relationship that kept just, popping back up?"

"No. Relationships are consensual. They can't pop up unless you want them too. People can, though. So which is it?"

"Okay, here's the thing," he started to explain, "No, you'll be on her side, keep filing," he changed his mind.

It was the first time since she'd known him that Nathan Scott had been quite so, well, spastic, for lack of a better word. Haley couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with _the incident _that weekend. But he hadn't said anything and one of the other girls swore he'd left before she danced, so was he really that traumatized by the whole thing?

"Why would I be on her side?"

"Girls always bind together on 'Men are assholes' issues like this," he shrugged it off.

"So you admit to being an asshole?" she asked.

"See! I knew you'd take her side!"

* * *

The man was crazy. "I clearly need to have more details or I'll never be able to gage how much of an ass you're truly being here."

"Fine! Okay, so there's this girl, Rachel. We were engaged during college."

"Whoa-" Haley's eyebrows shot up, "That's a serious relationship to be discussing over filing. I feel like we should at least have coffee or something. Damn."

Nathan raised his hand, complete with coffee cup, "There's more in the break room if you're interested."

"Maybe in a bit. Continue."

"I have to finish up an e-mail here, just a second," he typed for a few seconds and clicked the mouse.

She shoved one file closed and started on a new one.

"Right, so anyway me and Rachel were engaged our Sophomore year of college."

"Rachel and I," The correction came to her lips automatically.

Nathan smiled and started over, "Rachel and I started dating the end of our freshman year of college and got engaged the next year. It happened way too fast and both of us knew it. We broke up pretty quickly after the engagement. But we still...saw each other, throughout the rest of college and stuff, off and on."

It wasn't surprising that Nathan had gotten engaged so young...or that he freaked out and broke it off. As well as she could recall, he wasn't a whole lot different in high school. "Friends with benefits?" Haley asked. She saw those kinds of relationships _all _the time in her previous line of work. For the most part, not the girl's idea, but there were exceptions.

"Yeah, right. Rachel would kill me. She always liked being the one that I kept coming back to, I think, but after college, we ended things and she basically said that the next time it happened, that was it, she wasn't interested in a once in awhile thing, that we'd have to get serious again."

"So what did you do?"

"Avoided her like hell," Nathan admitted and Haley found his response amusing. He really was the typical guy. And so very open about it too.

"So what's the problem?"

"Alcohol. I woke up at her place this weekend."

"I assume there were...activities?" Haley tried to put it politely.

"Wouldn't know, can't remember," Nathan winced, as though he already knew what she would think of that. And he was right.

Haley smiled, "You win."

"On her side?" Nathan sighed, "See? I knew it."

"So when's the wedding? Can I be the flower girl?" Haley loved the look on his face. The idea of commitment clearly terrified him and she didn't blame him.

"We didn't talk yet, I sort of bailed."

"Ohhh," Haley tried to think of something nice to say, but came up blank, "Well, that's probably a pretty clear message, if that makes you feel better."

"Slightly," Nathan admitted.

"Hey, Nate," Lucas burst through the door, "Where did you put those papers I gave you?"

* * *

"You give me papers every 5 minutes, which ones?" Nathan looked around his desk. "These?" he handed them back to his brother.

"Yeah, thanks, Dan's freaking out, needed them last week, blah blah," Lucas turned back to the door, "Oh hi!" he noticed Haley for the first time, "I don't think we met properly, I'm Lucas Scott."

And Lucas bugged him for flirting with the assistants, Nathan rolled his eyes as Lucas took her hand and didn't seem particularly inclined to let go of it.

"Haley James," she smiled.

God, if Haley was the type to fall for his brother's way too pretty face, he had seriously misjudged her. But then, hadn't that been what started all her troubles in the first place?

"Nice to meet you," Lucas backed toward the door and flipped through the papers like some sort of fidgeting monkey. Freak. "Whoa. Nate, you never signed these."

"Well, yeah, I haven't read them either."

"It's for the Make a Wish thing we're sponsoring," Lucas offered.

Anything that involved sick kids made Nathan queasy and that was the last thing he needed to deal with. "Do I have to sign it right this second? When are they doing the spot?"

Lucas checked his watch, "Ten Minutes."

There was no way he could read all that crap in ten minutes and have any idea what it meant. "You read this, right?"

"For the most part," Lucas shrugged, "Bring that with you when you come down, I have to get some other crap together."

"You suck," Nathan picked up a pen and started to skim the page as Lucas left the room.

The phone rang and Haley picked it up, which, being that it was her second day, sort of impressed Nathan. She might be the best assistant ever.

"Nathan Scott's Office, Haley speaking," her eyebrows rose as she listened to the person on the other end, "Please hold for Mr. Scott," she covered the mouthpiece. "It's Rachel."

"Shit," Nathan shook his head, "Tell her I'll call her back."

"Mmmm... No," she placed the receiver in his hand.

"God, you're the worst assistant ever," he grumbled.

"You'll thank me one day," she assured him and slid the papers over to him, "Sign."

Nathan did as he was told, dreading whatever came out of Rachel's mouth first. He'd be lucky if she let him go before lunch.

"Go to the meeting, tell me what I miss, okay?"

Haley looked startled, "Umm, yeah," she grabbed a legal pad off his desk, "No problem."

"Thanks," Nathan took a cleansing breath, "Hey Rach, you still there?"

She was.

* * *

Haley finally found her way to the conference room as a few people settled into their chairs. She quickly slipped in to the chair next to Lucas, since he was the only person she'd actually met.

He didn't seem overly surprised to see her, "Got held up?"

"Stuck on the phone," she explained, "Wanted me to keep track of what happened."

"We're still waiting for a couple people, it's fine," Lucas shrugged, "Nathan hardly ever makes it to meetings anyway."

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting," a deep voice resonated through the room. Dan Scott, Nathan's father. She'd seen pictures. "And this, of course, is our guest of honor," he gestured to the young man standing next to him and Haley turned for the first time and her mind went all but blank.

Haley didn't need to listen to Dan's introduction. She was pretty sure she'd know Chris Keller anywhere.


End file.
